Monday, 22 April 2013

Hazy Lights and Shadows by Lynn Geesaman

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Since the invention of the camera, photographers have been drawn to European cities, capturing the surrounding landscape. Whether focusing on the sculpted bushes in Versailles, the perfectly aligned trees in Damme, Belgium or the luscious vegetation of Giverny, artists continue to travel to Europe, capturing the details and grandness of parks and gardens that have been preserved for centuries. American photographer Lynn Geesaman first started traveling to France and Belgium in 1987, when she realized the gardens she most sought were outside the United States. Based in Minneapolis, Geesaman learned photography when she was 33 years old in an effort to take pictures of her children. Working as a math teacher in middle school, Geesaman's hobby quickly became a full time career, as she developed her own way of seeing and style of printing. A pivotal photographic assignment led her to photograph in a public garden, which she used to find intimidating. Although she found Minneapolis stimulating, she realized her favorite gardens/parks were from another century -- places that remained untouched by human decadence or industrial intrusion. Lynn Geesaman quickly gained national recognition for her striking black and white photographs. Void of people, her images reveal the solitude and refinement found in nature. Her pictures vibrate with a glistening light, inviting viewers to meander through the poplars in France, the canals in Belgium and the cypress trees in Italy. These are quiet places where the only disturbance is the occasional rustle of the leaves or the sounds of our own thoughts. Geesaman photographs during daylight hours, when the sun catches the tip of the leaves and the wind barely makes a sound. Her shimmering images continue to invite the viewer into a dream world where the imagination runs free.

New to Geesaman's work is her use of brilliant color. Through meticulous darkroom printing, we are confronted with glowing yellow trees, glistening orange foliage and soft green waters that challenge our perception of natures' colors. These are fabricated colors in familiar places -- places Geesaman has shown us before, yet places we long to re-experience. Whether working in color or black and white, Geesaman photographs places of solitude that invite the viewer to walk around, without any distractions or reservations.